CCSAP Report - Ministry of Home Affairs

states received strong support from many quarters including Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
who underlined the importance of a common language in fostering a sense of
unity and belongingness among people of a state. There was also consensus that
administration and education should be in the regional language to ensure the
healthy development of people of a state and to allow for effective
communication with those who governed them.
What the SRC strongly repudiated, however, was the “home land” concept,
which, according to it, negated one of the fundamental principles of the Indian
Constitution, namely, “equal opportunities and equal rights for all citizens
throughout the length and breadth of the Union”. 33 It thus warned against
exclusivity on the basis of any primordial identity – whether of birth, language,
caste, region or religion. A “sons of the soil” policy cannot really work in a socially
diverse society in which the histories of migration are also multi-layered.
While considering the merits of regional assertion we must also consider the
ways in which such assertion can be counter-productive. When couched in terms
of cultural difference, such a demand can create division and also spur numerous
other demands. When couched as self-determination there are implications for
the unity and integrity of the nation state. These issues are examined in the
following section.
7.14.03 The Telangana Movement and Language It is important to
look at the linguistic diversity of the state as AP was the first linguistic state to be
formed in the country, as a consequence of the demand for a separate state by
the Telugu speaking population of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. In the
current movement for Telangana, language has again become a contentious
issue with coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema claiming that the Telugu language
underpins the fundamental unity of the three regions and for this reason the
state needs to be preserved as it is. Telangana people, on the other hand, have
argued that their dialect, if not language, differs substantially from that of Andhra
region, connoting a separate cultural identity. The table below provides a picture
33 ibid
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